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The upgrade was a success! Please let me know in Site Discussion if anything has gone awry!

Gaslight Investigations is a game which has already existed in a previous incarnation. Through player attrition and a game system switch to FATE, I need to recruit.

There will be one returning player so this should feel as much like a brand new game as possible.

I'll be looking for 2-4 players.

P.S. A quick word on FATE. This will be the first time I will be GMing a FATE game. I don't think it will inhibit my ability to effectively GM, but for those who are FATE experts/purists, you should take my experience into account as you decide whether to apply.

My GM philosophy

Like everyone, I play to have fun. As a GM, fun for me is working with the players to create great stories that contain great characters (PCs and NPCs) who experience the joys and sorrows that we subject them to.

I am more a "role" than "roll" play person, but with the FATE system I feel those two styles are closer than in some other, less narrative, systems, so I expect to be using the mechanics as needed.

What do I look for in a Player?

- I am looking for players who enjoy cooperative storytelling and role-playing, who want to adhere to the “spirit of the setting”, and will do what they can to support me and their fellow players in making the game a success.

- I am looking for players who value story above mechanics and who will work with me and the other players in putting the characters through arcs that make them dynamic and interesting.

- I am looking for players who want to tell me the story of their characters. While I'm telling the primary story as the GM, each player should be trying to tell me (and each other) the story of their characters.

POST EPISODE REVIEW

I know that playing PbP is a long process and that sometimes RL rears its ugly head and you just can't keep up with a game. Therefore after each episode each player will be given the opportunity to decide whether they want to continue onto the next episode, have their character sit an episode out, or retire their character entirely (leave the game permanently).

Also, I will be reviewing the quality of play for each player and if there are issues I feel need addressed I will provide feedback to those players. If a player is particularly absent or otherwise disruptive to the game, I will ask them to retire their character and leave the game.

In addition to me providing feedback, I will be looking to the rest of the players to give each other and me feedback. I hope through the process of developing stories and characters this will be a continuous thing without having to call it out specifically.

ABSENCES

If a player is absent for 2 weeks, they are no longer considered part of the game and their character is permanently an NPC (unless another player steps in to take over).

Of course if you send me a PM of any absences you foresee (holidays, vacations, work trips, etc…) we can work something out.

SYSTEM

The game system we will use is "Strands of FATE", a generic FATE implementation (similar to Dresden Files RPG but not exactly the same).

I have some quick FATE information up on the wiki, but it would be advisable for each player to have a copy of the rules. They are $10 on rpgnow.

1. What is your experience level with FATE? Have you been a player or a GM (or both)?

2. How familiar are you with the Victorian age (either historically or through fiction)?

3. Have you ever played in a Victorian/Gaslight campaign setting before? If so, as a player or GM? What game system was used?

7. What do you expect from a game set in the Victorian Horror/Detective genre?

8. At the end of the day, when we're finished, what would make you feel the game was "successful"?

Character Concept Guidelines

Association with Dr. Anton Arnheim: Each character needs to have some association with Dr. Arnhiem. He is a German alienist of some repute (psychologist) and works in London. His personal life is somewhat mysterious, but he works with the Yard on their more difficult cases and he brings the group together.

Occupations: I'd like characters who have occupations that lend themselves to the genre. I've come up with the following groups to consider:
- Military / Law Enforcement
- Medical
- Academic / Scientific

Concept vs Mechanics: Generally I don't like to have applicants develop full character sheets, more just a concept, but FATE does an excellent job of integrating the two, so while I don't expect a full list of aspects, I'd like at least 3 main character aspects.

Writing Sample

Please provide a brief writing sample. I encourage you to take this opportunity to showcase your character concept in some manner, either through description or voice.

Gaming Example (optional)

For those of you who have been around on MW, I'd ask that you provide at least one example of a post (or posts) in a game where you feel you've done some good role playing.

To My Esteemed Colleague,

I have recently been informed by the Chief Inspector that Scotland Yard is indeed still interested in consulting with me. That puts me in the place of having to constitute a team on which I can thoroughly rely. When we last spoke, I had told you that I may have need of your talents and so I am calling on you to join me and a number of other excellent persons in this most serious endeavor.

Now a word of caution. Give this matter serious thought and do not enter into this partnership lightly. We shall be dealing with matters beyond the fortitude of the Yard's most hardened men, and so your mind, body, and possibly soul shall be under constant attack. That being said, I would not be writing you if I did not think you had the resilience to handle such matters.

If you choose to head my call, I invite you for a long weekend at The Primrose House, to meet with me and the others. This should give us a chance to get to know each other better and decide the manner in which we shall proceed.

Please arrive this Friday at five in the evening, prepared for an excellent supper.

As Always,
Dr. Anton Arnheim

I'd like to start off quickly with a case that gives each player the ability to introduce their character to the group, let us get our heads around FATE, and flesh out the rest of the character sheet.

As you have read above, Dr. Arnheim has invited everyone to a long weekend at "The Primrose House" a hotel in upper London north of Regent Park near Primrose Hill. It is here he wants everyone to meet and discuss what the future holds for this investigative group.

Obviously it won't be that simple...

I will review the applications, the applicants’ user stats on mythweavers, and may ask some follow-up questions if necessary.

Then, I’ll pick the players, notify them, and we’ll move into the game forum...

Thanks everyone!

Game Description:

Game Concepts

This is a Horror/Detective game set in Victorian London (1880's).

The world looks and feels like the historical era. The key difference is that supernatural/magical elements can be involved, although they generally remain in the hands of the GM. The PCs are on their own, using legends, etc to aid them. The PCs will have only their wits and skills to defeat these threats and, even when a little supernatural/magic is given to them, its use is likely limited to the outcome of the current adventure. Supernatural/magical enemies will not be the only enemies. Horror can also apply to deviant actions by normal people (i.e. Jack the Ripper).

At the onset of the game, the characters have been brought together in an ad-hoc investigative group. This group is the brain child of a Dr. Anton Arnheim; a preeminent alienist and subject matter expert for Scotland Yard (officially known as the "Criminal Investigations Division"). Their regular inspectors, inadequate to deal with the more macabre incidents London is subject to, have turned to Dr. Arnheim's group, which has been granted official status, with each of its members given papers that identify them as "Consultants" of the Metropolitan Police Force's (MPF) Criminal Investigations Division (CID).

So you can get a feel for where I'm coming from here are some of the stories that have informed my thinking on this game:

1. I'm an experienced Rper with no real experience with Fate (but i have the rulebook PDF)
2. I love the Victorian Era. I love steampunk. I am very very familiar with this time in history.
3. I've played Vampire the Masquerade, and Call of Cthulhu, I loved both.
4. I'd love from the game - well, mystery, science fiction, a sense of horror and the unknown. I'm a fan of Call of Cthulhu and Sanctuary.
5. I think we're successful if everyone keeps playing and has a good time.

My first truly relevant question - if we do up stats, what is the CPL ( cmpaign power level) - we should create with.

Jurian Westphalan is a serial bachelor and ex soldier of campaigns in India and the Gold Coast of Africa. He is great grandson of Johannes Westphalan a Hessian soldier who made his fortune in the employ of England as a very successful mercenary. He now lives on a pension from his days as a soldier and his family’s allowance. Prior to his campaigns, he received first class honors in Mathematics from Cambridge. He takes commissions as a cartographer, having applied his understanding of mathematics and skills he picked up the skills he picked up from doing military surveying and reconnaissance missions. Nowadays most of his commissions are accuracy checks of other maps and if necessary to correct and redraw any errors.

He is known for his attention to detail and fierce determination in getting the maps just right. He has a reputation in a limited way, as one of the highest quality freelance map makers. Besides maps, he is a bit of dilettante dabbling in different subjects as they take his interest. He enjoys applied mathematics the best, attempting to use logic and equations to predict and produce unconventional results. As such, he has a large library full of books on a wide array of subjects. And an even more impressive array of journals filled with his own musings and theorems on different subjects.

Jurian Westphalan came to Dr Arnheim’s attention, when the latter was looking for someone to help plot out the locations of several murders he was tracking for Scotland Yard. It turned from a simple map into a collaboration whereby Jurian built a spatial analysis of the data to help optimize the police ‘beats’ in the area of the murders to make it more likely for them to walk areas the murderer might strike again, statistically. From that successful endeavor, a friendship blossomed where the Doctor would occasion to come by for tea and a chat about some interesting case.

A crash of thunder woke Jurian up from a deep sleep. It sounded like the British artillery cannon bombarding the Ashanti tribes during the war. He sighed, resigning himself to a sleepless night. Rising, he quickly dressed and put on his most comfortable robe.

A lightning flash briefly illuminated the stairs through the window as he descended to the kitchen. He made as little noise as possible as he put on a teapot. Soon enough he had a tray with tea and some small biscuits to take up to his study.

Inside, he shut the heavy curtains which dampened the noisy and flashy storm. Sitting down his tray he opened up a pamphlet that the good Dr Arnheim had provided him on the criminal mind. It was an insightful look into the motivations of criminals. It set his imagination going. He wondered if there were any correlations between social status and crime. It seemed to be the author’s premise that it was only those of low social character that committed crimes unless there was some other sickness of the mind to attribute the activity.

Putting the papers aside, he rose and moved over to a couple of cabinets that held old papers. He sorted through them, removing 3 of them from the rest. Bringing those back he quickly found the stories he was looking for. Making notes in a journal of his own, he began a letter to his friend. In it he was going to propose a different hypothesis altogether. But first he would have to go to the library and gather a much larger sample set and then cross reference it. It might take some time. Forgotten was the lightning, the thunder and the bloodshed of the Second Ashanti War.

And this post has a writing sample for a character submission. The character concept is an elven spy/assassin. Their world view - as long as humans are fighting each other and destabilized, they will be unable to focus their attention on the elven kingdoms… http://www.myth-weavers.com/showthre...67#post4768267

Hmmm, it's steampunk in the sense of having supernatural elements added to Victorian-era Great Britain, but as far as we PCs are concerned (at the moment at least), it's just normal 1880's London. No anachronistic technology, no elves or dwarves or whatnot wandering the streets, etc.

Also, hi everyone, I'm the returning player mentioned. I play Robert Gideon Henley, a widowed 40-something reporter working for The Illustrated Police News (an actual paper that ran during that time). Feel free to ask me any questions you might have about my character, the game or the DM. Though I can guarantee you that any answers to the last two will be overwhelmingly positive. Omnis has been running this since 2010 and I simply cannot sing his praises enough as a storyteller.

The power level (found here on the wiki Omnis made for the game) is Expert, with 24 points to spend on abilities (though abilities can only have a maximum of three points each) and three Expert Advantages.

Also should mention that I'm new to the FATE system too, though Omnis and I have been going through a bit of a practice story just to get the feel for it.